Tracing Ancient Itinerants and Early Medieval Rulers in the Forests of Bandhavgarh

Abstract

This article arises out of a disquiet about the archaeology of historical India which has largely been concerned with cities and villages. Forests and wilderness rarely figure there, except in passing when the expanding agricultural terrain is described in relation to forest lands being domesticated or when there is an exploration of lines of communication, some of which pass through forested tracts. Because of this gap in engaging with lands beyond agrarian tracts and city sites, large expanses that carry markers of ancient human use have not centrally figured in such research. Here, we describe our field work in the Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve and its implications. The earliest remains go back in the form of caves to the 2^nd century CE. Shrines of early medieval antiquity, sculptures, and reservoirs begin in the time of Kalachuri kings (7^th century CE till the 13^th century CE) and continue into the high medieval with Vaghela fortifications and palace remains (13^th century CE onwards). What these can tell us when they are immersed in the hills and meadows of Bandhavgarh, in its forests and around its water bodies, is explored here.

Keywords:

• archaeology
• forests
• Bandhavgarh
• caves
• Kalachuri

Acknowledgements

The Bhopal office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and the Chief Wildlife Warden, Madhya Pradesh, and the Umaria Office of the Field Director, Bandhavgarh made this work possible. We are deeply grateful to them for their support. In the field, the forest staff were Chhote Singh, Chote Singh, Nanku Baiga, Suresh Dwivedi and Santosh Yadav. A big ‘thank you’ to them. The project was done under the aegis of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research at Ashoka University. We are deeply grateful to Professor L.S. Shashidhara, Dean (Research) at Ashoka University who provided all the funding and support for this work.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

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13. Chakravarti, ‘Brahmi Inscriptions from Bandhogarh’, p. 180 and 185.

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29. Mirashi, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum IV, pp. 182-86.

30. Mirashi, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum IV, pp. 184-85.

Additional information

Funding

The field work was entirely funded by faculty grants from Ashoka University and further grants from Research Office, Ashoka University.